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DAZ content/reinstall

kksmith6515kksmith6515 Posts: 201
in Technical Help (nuts n bolts)

Hello,

I'm sure this question has come up many times before so I apologize in advance for repeating it, but let me provide just some of my particulars, followed by a question. Back in 2017, I purchased a Dell XPS 8920. At the time, Dell was building them with 2 hard drives, I don't know why. The smaller one, which was only 256GB was desginated as drive C, to which all programs, operating system and files were installed on. The other one, which was 2TB, remained largely used. At first, I didn't worry about it, but as you can imagine, it quickly filled up. At present, I currently have over 594 items installed through DAZ install manager! 

The technicians, I spoke to yesterday at Dell indicated that my only really option at this point is simply to errase everything, change the D drive to C and reinstall everything. Why Daz didn't set it up that way to begin with baffles me!! However, I'm willing to do that but here's my question. Would I still be able to open all the Daz files which I have already created or would I lose access the those as well? I though doing this might effect the path directory that Daz Studio uses to read the file but I'm not sure.

Any comments, suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 96,809

    The 256GB drive will be an SSD (fast, but small). The 2GB drive will be a rotating hard disc, slower but able to hold more data.

    DS will use the user's Docuemnts folder for Connect and for saving, so if you had moved that to D: that's where the content would be. DIM does default to using the Public Documents folder on C:

    Foretunately you don't absolutely need to uninstall and reinstall - If you move the content directories from C: to D: and tell DS where they are everything will still work (don't move any additional folders from /Documents/Daz 3D/Studio however - soem plug-ins plae files there and, anoyingly, don't alow for editing). You can add the new location in DS by going to the Content Library pane and opening the option menu (the lined button in the top corner, or right-click on the tab) and selecting Content Directory Manager. Edit the current entries for Daz Connect, Daz Studio Formats and Poser Formats by highlighting the current value and using the Edit button on the left and selecting the new folder (if you haven't kept the names the same, you want the folder that holds the Runtime and Data folders in both sections). You can then use http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/scripting/api_reference/samples/file_io/install_manager_config/start to update DIM to match.

    DIM does use the absolute paths for its content, but that will matter only if you need to install a product update - you can, after setting the nwe path and making sure that it is the active destination (click the Show Details check-box) select things in the Installed tab, then right-click and choose the reisntall using current path option.

  • kksmith6515kksmith6515 Posts: 201

    As a follow-up to this original posting, I left Daz Studio on C drive and I moved all my saved files and content files over to D. That all seemed to work fine. However, what's strange is even after setting DAZ Studio and the Install Manager where to put everything, the Install Manager appears to still be putting new files onto C drive as well as D. Is that even possible? If you tell it only to install things onto D why would it still be putting things on C?

  • sterlenejcsterlenejc Posts: 178
    kksmith6515 said:

    As a follow-up to this original posting, I left Daz Studio on C drive and I moved all my saved files and content files over to D. That all seemed to work fine. However, what's strange is even after setting DAZ Studio and the Install Manager where to put everything, the Install Manager appears to still be putting new files onto C drive as well as D. Is that even possible? If you tell it only to install things onto D why would it still be putting things on C?

    In Install Manager, you need to add directories where you want DIM to install content. If you moved it to a new drive, add that directory to DIM installation and choose it in the drop-down menu. That should fix your problem.

    If you want to keep those installs separate from other ones, just make a new installation directory where DIM will install everything, and add that directory in DazStudio (Content manager>manage directories)

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 96,809
    edited June 2019
    kksmith6515 said:

    As a follow-up to this original posting, I left Daz Studio on C drive and I moved all my saved files and content files over to D. That all seemed to work fine. However, what's strange is even after setting DAZ Studio and the Install Manager where to put everything, the Install Manager appears to still be putting new files onto C drive as well as D. Is that even possible? If you tell it only to install things onto D why would it still be putting things on C?

    That certainly shouldn't happen. Where exactly are the files going? Or are these the .dsx manifest files? They aren't content, they have a separate seting

    Post edited by Richard Haseltine on
  • kksmith6515kksmith6515 Posts: 201
    sterlenejc_d83e6c2f59 said:
    kksmith6515 said:

    As a follow-up to this original posting, I left Daz Studio on C drive and I moved all my saved files and content files over to D. That all seemed to work fine. However, what's strange is even after setting DAZ Studio and the Install Manager where to put everything, the Install Manager appears to still be putting new files onto C drive as well as D. Is that even possible? If you tell it only to install things onto D why would it still be putting things on C?

    In Install Manager, you need to add directories where you want DIM to install content. If you moved it to a new drive, add that directory to DIM installation and choose it in the drop-down menu. That should fix your problem.

    If you want to keep those installs separate from other ones, just make a new installation directory where DIM will install everything, and add that directory in DazStudio (Content manager>manage directories)

    Well, actually I thought that's what I did. Please see attached pic. Maybe I did something wrong. Thanks for the feedback!

    screen shot.jpg
    1920 x 1080 - 1M
  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 96,809

    The content installation path iss till set to the C: drive. You need to cick the + button to add a new location, set its name and use the ... button to set the path, then set that as the Current path at the bottom of the dialogue.

  • mmitchell_houstonmmitchell_houston Posts: 2,472

    Why Dell Did What It Did:

    • Back when you (and I, for that matter) bought our Dell computers, SSD drives were very expensive, which is why they only gave us a 256 GB drive for the Windows OS. The SSD (Solid State Drive) has no moving parts and it is MUCH faster than a traditional hard drive with moving parts. That's why they put the Windows Operating System (OS) on the SSD: To make your computer boot up faster.

     

    Upgrading that small SSD drive:

    • Now, however, M2 SSD drives are pretty cheap and I just bought a Western Digital Blue 2 TB SSD drive for about $220. I will be installing it this afternoon.
    • FYI: You can get a 1 TB for about $120.
    • I will be using a free program called Acronis to clone my old SSD into the new one. Once there, I will be able to then expand the partition so I will then have a 2 TB SSD drive as my primary drive.
    • I admit this is the first time I've tried this with an M2 SSD drive, but I've done with other drives in the past without any problems. 

    I know it might seem daunting, but you should consider buying a new M2 SSD drive for your computer. It's an easy upgrade that could save you a bunch of headaches by giving you a LOT more space to work with on your C Drive. There are LOTS ov videos on YouTube about how to do this.

  • bradassociatesbradassociates Posts: 106

    I'm glad this question was asked.  I'd like to add a question that's related.  I have the same situation on my Dell desktop.   I have 500 GB SSD, and a 5 TB rotating HD.    When installing Daz Studio and DIM, it set up directories in two different areas - one is the C:/users/public/public documents/My Daz 3D Library which is where the content folders are.  The second, however, is located c:/users/Dell/My Documents/Daz 3D/Studio where the Render Library is as well as Hexagon one level up.

    I would think they'd all be located within the same parent as where My Daz 3d Library, so I'm now confused.  I want to load Daz onto a laptop to work on content while traveling.  I've loaded it, and the directors are different.   Before I do anything, I want to make sure I'm doing this right.

    I plan to back up everything on an external drive, then connect that external drive to my laptop.   I'd then copy the My Daz 3D Library into the My Daz 3D Library and select "merge" to merge everything.   Will this work - will I be able to then use Daz Studio with the same content on my laptop?  Alternatively, would it be better to use my Goodsync program to do this instead?

     

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 96,809

    The Public Documents folder location is for the Daz content, the Documents folder location is for your own files (and Connect installs, I guess because they are tied to the CMS database which is stored in your profile by default).

    Keeping them separate (though you don't have to use those locations) is recommended, but you can merge them if you wish - just be aware that, in the fiarly unlikely event that it breaks something, support will probably ask you to go back to the default set-up as part of troubleshooting.

  • bradassociatesbradassociates Posts: 106
    Richard Haseltine said:

    The Public Documents folder location is for the Daz content, the Documents folder location is for your own files (and Connect installs, I guess because they are tied to the CMS database which is stored in your profile by default).

    Keeping them separate (though you don't have to use those locations) is recommended, but you can merge them if you wish - just be aware that, in the fiarly unlikely event that it breaks something, support will probably ask you to go back to the default set-up as part of troubleshooting.

    Thanks.  As to the second part of my question - if I purchase a new computer, or, want to use my laptop while traveling, can I simply load Daz Studio onto them and merge My Daz 3D Library into the newly created My Daz 3D Library on the new computer?

     

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 96,809

    Yes, though you'd want to reimport the metadata to get full support (Content Library paen option menu>Content DB Maintenance).

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